


What Happens in the Fade...

by geekyjez



Series: Isii Lavellan (Non-Canon AUs) [24]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Awkward Boners, Dreams, F/M, In the Fade, Just Friends, Literal Sleeping Together, Pre-Relationship, Sex Dream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-19 20:02:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8223109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geekyjez/pseuds/geekyjez
Summary: Solas thinks the Fade is merely recreating an intimate memory from his past... until the woman straddling him suddenly changes into someone else. Matters only get more awkward once he wakes up.Prompt from Tumblr: Solas pops an accidental boner in front of Isii. (Imagine the scandal.)   Pre-Relationship Solavellan. Friends, not lovers.





	

Laughter tittered from liquored lips, breathy and muffled as she drew him into another kiss, tugging eagerly at fist-fulls of his robes as she dragged him into his chambers.

 _Ah,_ Solas thought hazily, some small piece of his consciousness still remaining distant from the dream. _This night. This was a good night._

He hadn’t sought out the memory; the spirits of the Fade chose for him. Every now and again, the entities who visited him in his dreams seemed keen to explore the explorer - to use his mind as their source of inspiration, rather than recounting what they had already seen. The fact that they chose a more intimate moment did not feel invasive to him, though he was certain others would not share his opinion. He understood their curiosity. They wanted to observe something they could not experience firsthand.

In truth, he had no complaints. It had been ages since he’d experienced any form of intimacy. Reliving such a moment within the safety of his own dreams wasn’t an unwelcome solution to his loneliness.

The room was dimly lit, barely bright enough to avoid bumping into the furniture. Solas didn’t bother with lighting the braziers, far too occupied with the woman who was impatiently ushering him toward his bed, her hands making quick work of his robe. He couldn’t quite remember her name. Some noblewoman. House Armael, perhaps? It had only been a fleeting affair but he remembered this night. She had tormented him throughout the evening, taking every opportunity to tempt him, her magic moving through him, making promises that her body would later fulfill. Normally he enjoyed savoring the chase, but she had been far too beautiful and the wine had flowed a little too generously for any hope of restraint.

She stripped him down to his breeches before giving him a hard shove, sending him sprawling atop his bed. Solas chuckled, watching her as she crawled forward. He could only make out the faintest details of her form - loose dark hair falling over her shoulders, her eyes glowing faintly in the low light. She kissed him once more, claiming his lips fiercely as she straddled him, guiding his hands along her thighs. She’d had such wonderfully soft skin. He remembered that about her. Tan and smooth. Lightly freckled. He enjoyed her freckles - he liked slowly exploring her body to trace each mark. But that was a task for a more leisurely evening. On this night, she hadn’t been patient enough for such things.

She squirmed above him, continuing to guide his hands higher beneath her dress, pushing the thin fabric aside until it bunched up at her waist. She was hungry for his touch, rewarding him with rich moans as his fingertips teased over her skin. A soft whine escaped her throat as he drew one of his hands away, summoning the slightest brush of magic. “Let me see you,” he coaxed her, the words moving unconsciously from his lips as they had thousands of years before, mindlessly acting out his role in this recreation. He lit the braziers, flames sparking into life, painting the room in a warm glow as her features came into focus. She’d been so beautiful. Willowy and lithe, deep brown eyes framed with thick, dark lashes. She smiled under his gaze, sitting atop him as he watched her.

“Like what you see, my Lord?” she murmured, letting her hands roam, accentuating her form.

“Quite,” he hummed, eyes half-lidded as he tilted his head, his fingers skirting the hem of her dress where it fell against her spread thighs. “Though I could think of ways to improve it.”

She giggled as she took the suggestion, grabbing fistfuls of the fabric. A coy grin off-set her performance as she arched her back, her hips drawing tight circles over his own, lifting her arms and tugging her dress over her head.

Yet the body she revealed was not her own.

Her skin was darker. Waifish thinness was replaced with lean muscle and soft curves, thicker thighs leading to a far more generous set of hips than the ones that sat atop him moments before. Pale curls fell along the slope of her breastband, the familiar lines of vallaslin cutting through her lips as they pulled into a smirk.

Solas jerked with surprise at the sudden shift away from the familiar narrative. “Lavellan?”

“What’s the matter, Solas?” the Herald asked, leaning over him, her chest pressed snugly against his own as she kissed his jaw. “Not quite how you remember it?”

This wasn’t right. The Fade was not recreating a memory but twisting it from its source, scrambling the details of his conscious experience in a matter that was truly disorienting. He was no longer comfortably going through the motions of a time long past. Instead, this felt more real. More immediate. Unpredictable, as he was now an actor who no longer knew the script.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

“But you want me here,” she purred. “That's why I came.” Her tongue slowly traced the length of his ear, her hips rocking teasingly against his lap. His hands went to her sides, telling himself he should make her stop, hold her still, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Not with how good it felt - the heat of her skin against his own, warm panting breaths ghosting over his throat. He could feel himself growing harder under the writhing weight of her body. _This is wrong. This is very wrong._ His initial panic began to subside as he reassured himself that it wasn’t her. Not truly. Isii wasn’t a Dreamer. She couldn’t find him in the Fade. This was just some strange mix-up. The spirits who conjured this image were confusing one woman for another. Nothing more.

Even so, it felt no different than reality. As far as his senses were concerned, Isii Lavellan was there - straddling him, kissing his neck, her fingers slowly worrying the laces on his breeches loose. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, when you think I’m not paying attention,” she murmured. “You can tell yourself that you’re only interested in the mark, but somehow I suspect you’re not thinking about the anchor when you’re staring at my ass...”

“I haven’t.”

“We both know that’s not true,” she chuckled, nipping at his throat before she continued. “You think about me a lot, don’t you? On those quiet nights in our tent with me sleeping beside you.” She finished loosening the ties, easing the closure open as her fingers teased along his hip bones, inching his waistband lower. “You wonder what it would be like to touch me. To kiss me. The sounds I would make if you were to reach over… if you slid your hand beneath my blanket...”

He caught her wrist before she could pull his breeches down further. “I would never-”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” she said plainly, the corner of her lips lifting. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t think about it.” He studied her face, confusion and uncertainty playing across his features even as her smile widened. “It’s alright, Solas,” she hummed, laughing as she sat upright. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’ve been alone for a long time. It’s only natural that you’d develop certain urges.” She guided his hand, easing it up until his palm curved around the swell of one breast, wetting her lips as her gaze lowered to his mouth. “Let me help you with that,” she whispered, inching closer. “Indulge your curiosity a little.”

“You’re not real,” he murmured.

“Does that matter?”

And then her lips were on his and it was perfect. Warm. Sweet. Soft. Exactly as he’d imagined it.

Of course it was. He was still only imagining it. Just as he was imagining her fingers encircling his shaft, the warmth of her palm as she stroked his length, her tongue sliding along his own as he moaned against her lips-

Solas awoke abruptly to the sound of metal clanging, something crashing to the ground followed by a steady stream of curses. He took a sharp breath, jarred into consciousness as Sera and Cassandra squabbled in the campsite beyond his tent - something about the elf letting their breakfast topple into the fire. His attention wasn’t on them, however, quickly drawn to the more immediate matter of the woman laying on top of him, currently staring into his face.

The moment of mutual realization was nearly instantaneous, flushed heat creeping up Solas’s ears as Isii’s eyes widened, the bleary confusion of waking quickly fading from her features.

It was not the first time he’d woken to find the Herald pressed against him. She had a bad habit of rolling over in her sleep and cuddling up to the nearest warm body. She was currently curled along his side, her leg hooked across his hips, her upper body resting against his chest. Most mornings, it was a welcomed feeling, despite the occasional cramp in his limbs from her positioning.

Unfortunately, _this_ morning was different. _This_ morning, she had his very firm, incredibly prominent erection jutting hard into her thigh.

There was no conceivable way she could miss that detail and it soon became clear by the way her eyes darted downward that she was just as painfully aware of it as he was. Well, perhaps not _quite_ as painfully aware, as the weight of her body against his lap made his cock throb, aching for relief, urging him to lift his hips and grind into that delicious pressure. That desire was thankfully overwhelmed by his mortification, not daring to move, fearing the repercussions of even the slightest shift against her.

Isii stared down into his face, her expression gradually changing from embarrassment to amusement as she arched a brow. “Well. Good morning to you, too.”

“I…” Solas swallowed, trying to clear the rasp from his throat.

“I guess somebody was really enjoying themselves in the Fade, huh?”

He parted his lips to speak only to snap his mouth shut once more.  She stifled a laugh. “No need to get so embarrassed,” she said as she crawled off of him. Solas bit into his cheek, barely swallowing a groan as her leg moved against his arousal, quick to sit upright once he was free of her. “The Dalish sleep in close quarters. You’re not exactly the first person to accidentally _poke me with their staff_ , so to speak.”

“That’s…” Solas paused as he tried to steady himself. “I suppose you think that is reassuring.”

She shrugged, casually picking through her discarded pile of clothing. “It’s not like I have any right to complain. I’m the one who keeps rolling into you in my sleep. It was bound to happen eventually.” She slipped her jacket over her tunic, eyeing him as she fastened it closed. “I honestly don’t know why outsiders get so flustered over bodily functions.”

“I’m not-” Solas halted, lips pinched together as he let out a huff. What was wrong with him? He was acting like some tongue-tied virgin. She clearly hadn’t taken offense and it wasn’t as though the nature of an erection was a revelation to either of them. “I would appreciate this incident remaining between us.”

Isii scoffed. “Do you really think I’m going to march out of this tent and announce to everyone that your equipment is operational?” she asked, peering at him skeptically. “Cassandra would likely find the matter inappropriate for discussion and Sera probably wouldn’t stop making jokes for the rest of the trip about your little surprise for me.” She paused, her gaze darting down briefly before smiling to herself. “Well, not _little_.”

Solas’s eyes narrowed as his cheeks began to burn. Isii stood, leaving her boots behind as she moved toward the tent flap. “I’ll give you some space,” she said, teasingly gesturing toward his lap. “Let you have some time to get that situation under control.”

He scowled and she flashed one more smirk before she ducked out of their tent. Solas let out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he fell back down onto his bedroll. Eyes closed, he focused on his breathing, clenching and unclenching his fists as he tried to calm himself.

If he had dreamed of anything else but her, perhaps he would have been able to handle the situation with more composure, but the vision had left him shaken. He’d never thought of her in that context before. Not explicitly. Nothing more than brief and idle curiosity. True, he admired her appearance. He acknowledged her beauty and that there was a certain allure to her. He’d been awake for just over a year and not once had he felt desire for any of the beings born of this world. They all appeared so hollow to him, numbed, practically lifeless - as did she, until only recently. She was mortal, incomplete, cut off from what she was meant to be and yet he wanted her. As wrong as that felt, he wanted her.

 _It did not matter_ , he told himself. This was nothing more than the yearning of a man who had not taken a lover in ages. In the past, he’d gone decades, sometimes centuries, without taking anyone to his bed. It wasn’t as though he had no self control. The urges would pass, now that he saw them for what they were. Pursuing her would gain him nothing. At best, the Herald was his ally, his friend - at worst, merely a tool he needed to use to stop Corypheus and put his plans back into motion.

He couldn’t afford to lose sight of that.

Yet he could still feel her lips on his own, the heat of her skin, the scrape of her nails across his chest.

Perhaps he would let himself dream of her again. Occasionally.

A simple fantasy couldn’t hurt anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Working through some writer's block by filling an ancient tumblr prompt that's been sitting in my WIP folder for ages. 
> 
> I can't decide if this is part of my canon or not... so for now it is going in the AU pile.


End file.
